There will no doubt be a mixed reception from horror fans about this, but it has been confirmed that The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable director M Night Shyamalan’s reboot of Tales From The Crypt will be heading to TNT in the US, the beneficiary of a 10-episode series order.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Tales From The Crypt adapted the stories of the legendary pulp horror imprint EC Comics for 93 episodes from 1989 to 1996, with the instalments produced by the likes of Richard Donner, Joel Silver and Robert Zemeckis. With every episode introduced by the suitably creepy ‘Cryptkeeper’ (voiced by John Kassir), it garnered fame for its array of notable guest stars and relatively high levels of graphic content (its production by HBO allowing this to be possible), and remains a popular curio for horror fans today. Under Shyamalan’s stewardship it will run initially for 10 episodes, set to air on TNT in the US in 2017.
But that’s not all. In addition to this, Shyamalan is producing two other series for TNT. The first is anthology horror Time Of Death, the synopsis for which is as follows:
Time Of Death is planned as an anthology of season-long horror tales that unfold in real time – each one taking viewers hour-by-hour through a single “long night of hell.” The first season will follow a murderous psychopath who returns to his Midwestern hometown during the annual county fair to exact revenge on a community he believes destroyed his life.
Also on the cards is Creatures, to be directed by Tom Shankland (House Of Cards) and written by Dominic Mitchell (In The Flesh), which is described in the press release as
…a sophisticated psychological thriller that tells the disturbing tale of two former best friends who, at 12 years old, tried to cut out their classmate’s heart as a sacrifice to an internet bogeyman they invented called Mr Gorgi. Fifteen years later, the two young women have been released from a psychiatric institute into their small town in Alaska, but it’s not long before they start to feel the alluring and terrifying presence of Mr Gorgi once again. Creatures is a story of deep friendship and dark obsession, where a vivid imagination meets the power of suggestion and the seduction of belief.
While some may be sceptical of Shyamalan’s involvement due to his recent film work, it’s worth mentioning that his TV productions have been of a higher standard – we were very impressed with Wayward Pines, for instance. It’ll be nice to see American Horror Story get a rival or two too, so we’ll wait and see how these ones turn out.
Tales From The Crypt will air on TNT in the US in 2017. For more news about the biggest movies, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.
